Manny Pacquiao recently declared that he will challenge the rugged Argentine, Lucas Matthysse for the WBA world welterweight title in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on July 14th.
It has been suggested for a while now that perhaps, Pacquiao’s long partnership with renown trainer, Freddie Roach which stretches back to 2001 could have already come to an abrupt end.
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Pacquiao’s advisor who has been a familiar face in ‘The Pacman’s camp over the years, Michael Koncz all but confirmed the rumours.
The advisor to the 8-weight division world champion, Koncz shared that Pacquiao has told him his best friend will take over the reigns in his corner.
Pacquiao’s best friend, Buboy Fernandez has also been an ever-present face in Pacquiao’s corner also.
Koncz claims it has been Pacquiao’s decision to hand the reigns to Buboy and put him in charge of training arrangements ahead of the July showdown with Matthysse.
“That’s Manny’s decision. Manny has told me Buboy will be handling the training on this fight,” Koncz said to ESPN.
“What’s important to Manny is that he has one voice to listen to in the corner that he trusts, and I guess that’s Buboy for this fight.”
Touching on the sudden parting of the ways between Pacquiao and Roach, Koncz says the Filipino was not happy with statements Roach had made to the media.
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“There was some concerns Manny had in the last fight.”
“Some statements Freddie made to the media that Manny wasn’t very pleased about.”
The promotional situation for Pacquiao is somewhat very vague too, at this moment in time.
‘The Pacman’ claims that his contractual obligations to Top Rank no longer stand while Bob Arum’s company claims the deal is ongoing.
Michael Koncz would not detail what exactly the situation is.
But did say Top Rank will be working with Pacquiao for his upcoming fight in Malaysia.
Koncz also highlighted the good working relationship they share with Top Rank and they hope their business together is not concluded with Pacquiao looking to secure a fight with Lomachenko, later this year.
“We’re working together on this fight,” Koncz said.
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“They’ve done good for us for a long time, and we’ve done good for them for a long time.”
“So we’re working with them on this fight.”
We don’t have any disputes with Top Rank. Hopefully, this fight with Matthysse is a big success and Manny is victorious, and then we can see if we can do a fight with [Vasiliy] Lomachenko with Top Rank in the fall.”
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